What is the value of prime polymers which contain a recycled content?

polymerman circle

In his column this month, Mike Boswell asks whether neutrality in pricing is the best way forward for the increasing number of ‘circular polymers’.

Historically, recycled polymers have traded at a significant discount below the prime virgin polymers from which they were derived. The diminution in value is associated with a variety of factors including: change in physical properties due to thermal degradation during processing; contamination through the prior use of colourants and/or other additives; restricted scope of application including approval for use in food contact products; variability in processing properties; and strong odour affecting finished products.

In the case of high performance steel, the reduction in performance resulting from the presence of contaminants is often referred to as ‘down-cycling’. However, the term ‘recycling’ has now been widely adopted in the plastics, paper, wood and other sectors and, with that, the acceptance that the recycled materials are not the same as the materials from which they come.

Today there is a new generation of prime polymers with recycled content, which offer some or all the properties of prime polymers, but with ecological credentials that move these polymer grades in the direction of the circular economy.

In many cases, prime polymer producers including Total, Sabic, Borealis and Lyondell Basell are now actively involved with the production of these polymers through partnerships, joint ventures and subsidiaries. In these cases, the prime polymer producers bring their polymer engineering expertise, which enables the properties of the materials with recycled content to be maintained or enhanced through the use of appropriate stabilisers (to prevent thermal degradation at processing temperatures), or property modifiers (to ensure good processing and end application characteristics).

Moreover, these grades are typically presented with a manufacturer’s data sheet providing key property data, with some materials even being certified for use in food contact applications.

So then to the question of value. If these ‘circular polymers’ have very similar properties to the prime polymers from which they are derived, why should they not have the same value? Not only does this neutral approach have logic, it neither provides a cost penalty to the producer, nor a cost advantage to the processor or downstream user. Of course, what is vital, (and somewhat what surprisingly the major polymer producers fully support) is that use of these materials is embraced by processors, brand owners and consumers so that we can move beyond the current produce, use, dispose towards a more circular approach in which more use is made of existing resources.

Polyerman Data Sheet

Mike Boswell is Managing Director of UK materials distributor, Plastribution, as well as the Chairman of the British Plastic Federation’s Polymer Compounders and Distributors Group and its ‘BREXIT Committee’. ‘Polymerman’ is the title used for announcements made via his Twitter account. This column is compiled using data from PIE (Plastics Information Europe) www.plastribution.co.uk| www.pieweb.com